A walk in the Oxfordshire countryside on a sunny day

For those of you who know me well, you are aware I am not one for the walking in the great British countryside. Or… well I wasn’t until the past year or so. Accompanied by the lovely James, we have been discovering the beautiful countryside of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Berkshire. We have been following the walks in the “AA 50 walks in …” guides (https://www.theaa.com/books/50-walks). Yesterday took us into the countryside around Abingdon-on-Thames and Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire.

For those who haven’t visited Abingdon, it is full of history, from the almshouses, county gaol, historic pubs and great architecture. However, it is not that which I am focusing on today.

Whilst fine weather definitely helps our walks, a particular highlight is discovering the parish churches on our routes and with that the gravestones of those who are buried in the churchyard. Apparently, there is a term for someone who enjoys visiting such places - “a graveyard rabbit”. The church graveyard at Sutton Courtenay is a little unusual in that it boasts two famous graves, the first of Eric Blair (otherwise known as George Orwell, author of Animal Farm) and the second of Herbert Asquith, Prime Minster of Great Britain between 1908 and 1916. However, it is not the famous people that interest me as much as finding out the biographies of others buried in the graveyard.

So, my first graveyard biography is that of Edward Whitehead, his wife Harriet and his son John Samuel who are buried there. The gravestone tells us of these facts.

In

Loving

Memory of

Edward Whitehead

Who died December 20th 1887

Aged 63 years

Also of Harriet his wife

Who died January 17th 1908

Aged 71 years

Also of

John Samuel Whitehead

Son of the above

Who died March 25th 1912

Aged 49 years

So, the search begins…

Edward Whitehead and Harriet Judd married on 26 April 1860 in the parish of St Michael in Oxford. He was the son of John Whitehead, a servant and Harriet was the daughter of Samuel Judd, a shoemaker. By 1871, the census shows them as having three children – Eliza Sophia, Samuel J and Emily. Edward was an agricultural labourer. By 1891, after Edward had died, Harriet was living at the “Fish Inn”, 13 Church Street, listed as an innkeeper with her daughter Eliza (now married to a Mr Smart) and her grandson Percy Smart, her son Samuel, (a bootmaker) and daughter Emily (a tailoress). The Fish Inn had just been rebuilt to replace a 17th century inn destroyed by fire. By 1901, John Samuel has taken over the inn. He is married to Ann (née Sleep m. 1891) with their children Emily, Harry and Winifred. Harriet now aged 65 is living with them still. John Samuel died in 1912, leaving £410 15s 6d to his widow Ann.

Had we not been in the current lockdown caused by coronavirus, a cool drink at the end of the 7.5 mile walk around Abingdon and Sutton Courtenay at the Fish Inn would have been very much on the agenda.